


The Many Worlds Theory

by kasey1939



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26529499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasey1939/pseuds/kasey1939
Summary: "Penny, while I subscribe to the many worlds theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them am I dancing." So what is he doing? A series of unconnected AU's.
Relationships: Leonard Hofstadter/Penny, Sheldon Cooper & Penny, Sheldon Cooper/Amy Farrah Fowler, Sheldon Cooper/Penny, others
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. Double Speak

**Author's Note:**

>   
>    
> 

  
  


Leonard sat in the chair he was tied to and tried to understand what went wrong. His life had finally been going his way, after a lifetime of not being good enough he finally was. He could look in the mirror and know that even though his mother found him stupid and little more than a living psychology study, even though his siblings were both top of their fields while his work was belittled as being on the same level as a high school science fair, even though nothing ever seemed to be good enough, he had finally won. He got the girl.

Meeting Penny Queen had been a quirk of fate, one of those once in a lifetime meetings that mirrored the Hollywood ideal. She had been coming out of the bank when he was going in and they bumped into each other. He made a science joke about inertia and she had laughed and he could see in her eyes that she actually understood what he had said. In that moment he fell completely head over heels in love, and galvanized by the laughter of a beautiful girl that for once wasn’t mocking in nature, he asked her out to get coffee as an apology for nearly knocking her over. To his amazement she agreed, smiling at him and teasing him for being so brave to ask out a complete stranger. 

Their coffee date ended with an exchange of numbers and when he called her two minutes later to check that she hadn’t faked him out she laughed again and told him how funny she thought he was. After the first week of back and forth phone calls she started coming around work on his lunch breaks and really listening to him when he explained his experiments, he was finally **the** guy on campus, Howard and Raj may have started out teasing him about her doing community service by seeing him but as the weeks wore on and she continued coming around his office they eventually moved on to awe inspired fist bumps and stunned silence every time she kissed him. He was the story that showed that sometimes nice guys did finish first.

After three months of mind blowing _everything_ , she started talking about introducing him to her friends, with more emphasis on one friend in particular. Sheldon. That was all she ever said about him, his first name followed by how smart he was. She thought the two of them would get along great since they were both science minded academics, and he was looking forward to meeting everyone she mentioned. It sounded almost like this Sheldon guy ran a think tank with Penny as their personal cheerleader slash nanny figure. She talked about making sure everyone ate and slept well even on a binge that according to her could last for days on end. She talked about how they would collectively help each other with everything from experiments to papers to refuting any criticism that came later after being published. It sounded like heaven.

Meeting Sheldon had been strange at first, he was full of quirks and tics that made no sense to him, but once he saw his board he knew he was one of those eccentric genius types, at least his tics were confined to his work space for the most part. He was invited to take part in a new experiment they were starting up, finally a chance to work on something that hadn’t already been proven by someone else, a chance to impress his mother and show her that he could be just as great as his siblings could be. For the next six weeks he found himself absorbed into this new work, going from the university to the new labs and back without much else in between. He ended up going to Gablehauser for time off so he could really concentrate on his new project. At first his boss was reluctant, but once he explained the premise and that his name would be attached leading to a boost in awareness for not only him but his place of employment as well, he was granted a two month leave for research purposes. 

That two months flew by with him practically living in the office space Sheldon had provided for him, before they took pity on him and offered him a room in the complex most of them lived in around the back of the building. The room itself was minimalistic but the surrounding common areas were filled with every form of entertainment he could ask for on his down time. Every type of video game no matter how retro or obscure alongside every form of DVD or board game a pop culture fanatic could dream of.

It wasn’t until his leave of absence was up that he realized he didn’t want to leave at all, he was accepted here and treated as an equal. He turned in his notice and moved out of his apartment to become a full resident of the complex, which came with a room upgrade. Howard and Raj both tried to talk him out of it, but he knew they were just jealous, his life was going so well and they were trapped in the same old rut as before bouncing from bar to bar trying to find happiness that eluded them. He had colleagues that helped him achieve his goals, he had a new home full of people who liked the same things he did and could talk to him about any one thing for hours at a time if given the chance, he even had a hot girlfriend who believed in him. Though he hadn’t seen Penny as much since he moved in, she had an apartment across town and he didn’t have the time to go see her as often as he did when he was still working for the university. 

At first he was just sad about that fact, but he still got to see her when she came by to see Sheldon so it wasn’t like they never saw each other, but that was part of the problem, she was always coming to see Sheldon and never him. After six months though he saw her bringing some other guy to see Sheldon just like she brought him and while that guy was busy talking with everyone else he confronted her about cheating on him, why else would she bring him here after all. Their argument got a bit heated, until Sheldon got pulled in by their volume, he told Penny to leave while the two of them talked and to his amazement she did. The Penny he knew would have stood her ground and argued that the fight was about her, so she should be the one doing the fighting. What was going on here?

Sheldon then proceeded to lay out a few “home truths” for him. He told him that while he and Penny did have a relationship of sorts in the past they hadn’t really been together in months and she was free to pursue other company if she chose to. He told him that here at the complex they didn’t really adhere to labels and that while Penny had been with him for a short time she was never really his. He had gotten angry and started to scream at Sheldon that Penny was his, and that the two of them were leaving. Everything had been great between the two of them before he let science and the Complex get between them. 

That argument was how he found himself here, tied to a chair in his boxers with Sheldon behind him and Penny in front of him. He wanted to cry. It had all been going so well and now it was all ruined. 

“Look at her Leonard, do you still claim her as yours?” Sheldon wasn’t even really taunting him; he was asking him what sounded like a genuine question. Like he did every question he asked, like he not only truly wanted to hear your answer but was also curious about what that answer might turn out to be.

“Please just stop it.” He wanted to look away from the bed and the show being performed for him there, but he couldn’t. 

After stripping him down and tying him up Sheldon had called Penny into the room with one of the other members Zack. When Leonard had first started getting to know people at the Complex Zack had surprised him, not being science minded like the rest. He had asked at the time why he was there and had been given a vague answer about him helping with the more hands on experiments, he wished now that he had asked more questions. 

Sheldon had ordered Zack and Penny to have sex in front of them and the two had complied immediately, that was when the pit in his stomach had begun to grow. As the minutes dragged on and the two continued to perform as directed he could feel himself begin to break. 

“Stop what Leonard? Stop teaching you? I’m sorry I can’t do that, not until you have learned your lesson. Have you learned your lesson Leonard?” He wanted to tell him he had, to tell him anything to get this to stop so he could leave and go back to the life he had abandoned for this, but he couldn’t squeeze the words past the burning lump in his throat.

“Sheldon.” The single word squeezed out of his burning throat was more a plea than the demand he wanted it to be. 

“No I didn’t think you had. What should I tell them to do now? What will help you understand?” Not wanting any part of this, he held his tongue. He knew anything he said would be ignored anyway, he had been making the suggestion that it stop since it started.

“Oh I know. Zach, roll so Penny can ride you. Let Leonard see just how active a participant she is in this. Will that help you see Leonard?” As the two complied he looked to Penny hoping to see some level of compassion in her eyes. She had always been so kind to him, ever since they met, and he knew this wasn’t her idea. Instead what he found froze him to his core, she wasn’t looking at him with compassion, she wasn’t looking at him at all. 

She was looking at Sheldon. 

Her eyes were filled with worship for the man standing behind him and that’s when it all began to click into place in his mind. 

“I see you’ve finally learned your lesson Leonard, that wasn’t so hard was it?” Shaking his head he let the tears continue to fall down his face. It was the hardest lesson he had ever learned in his life.

“Cheer up Leonard, she might be mine, but haven’t I always been so generous to share everything I have with you already. There’s no reason anything needs to change from how it’s been, you’ve been happy here haven’t you. Take part in our scientific discoveries, continue to build your life here, and when Penny is around if she’s not busy with other tasks feel free to be with her. Never forget though Leonard, for everything I have given you while it may all be in your life none of it is _yours_. It’s all **mine**.” Without another word Sheldon turned and left him tied to his little chair while Penny and Zack continued to pleasure each other. 

After what seemed like hours, once Zack was spent, Penny came over to him and began to ride him as well all while whispering words of love and acceptance in his ear. She was right, this was his home now.


	2. Research Assistant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sheldon needs help with a new experiment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline in Canon - Sheldon and Missy were born in 1980, Penny in 1985. Sheldon goes to college in 1991 (11), graduates in 1994 (14) and gets his doctorate in 1996 (16). Sheldon receives his doctorate in 96 and is working at the university by 2003 (he was already working there when he met Leonard in 03 so probably started in 99 (19))
> 
> Timeline for this story - Everyone born in 1980 so everyone is 18! (Simple)

  


**Galveston Texas 1998**

Penny had known Sheldon for as long as she’d known Missy, which was most of their lives up to this point. That boy was always doing something or another with his experiments and his science theories, and over the years she had become something of an assistant to him. It had started when they were nine and she offered to help him lift something in his garage that he had been struggling with. From that day on every time he saw her it was with a request on his lips to hold this or answer that. According to him she was now his baseline to judge others by. She wasn’t sure what he was judging since he never seemed to get around to explaining that part, or if he did she didn’t understand it, she just hoped she came out the winner. 

When Sheldon was eleven all the adults decided he was too smart to go to regular school so he tested out and went right on to college. She was pretty proud of him, almost as proud as Missy was when he graduated college at only fourteen and then went on to get his doctorate. He spent a few years in Germany learning and lecturing and meeting other people just as smart as he was but his mother made sure he came home every major holiday because she said she didn’t want him forgetting where he came from. 

This year was going to be the last year she could do that, he was turning eighteen this coming February so she was going all out this Christmas to make it special. A sort of last hurrah. Because of the special nature of the day she had thought she would just leave it as a family affair, but Sheldon it would seem had other ideas. He called her up just after four on Christmas Eve and asked her to come over. He said he was in the middle of a new project and while all the mental “legwork” was done he needed her help to put all he had learned into action. 

His mama and daddy were out doing the last minute shopping that always seemed to be needed no matter how organized you were leading up to the day. Missy was out with her latest boyfriend up on the bluffs. George was who knew where and wouldn’t show up to the house until the next day when his presence was mandatory. She wasn’t sure if he really needed her help or if he was just lonely or creeped out with no one else around and wanted her to come over and keep him company, but she would know soon enough. The Cooper house was just ahead on the corner.

If she was being honest she didn’t really mind helping Sheldon with all of his weird little projects. While she didn’t always learn something interesting while helping him out she did always learn something. Plus it made her feel less icky about mostly spending time with his twin while he usually sat by himself with his head buried in his books. 

Knocking three times, just like Sheldon always lectured for people to do, she waited for him to answer the door and maybe finally give her a clue about what he needed her help with. 

He ushered her through the front door like the hounds of hell might be on her heels just waiting to come in with her, before all but pushing her upstairs to his bedroom. He and Missy used to share before George moved out and Sheldon started running around everywhere learning this and that, now Missy was free to have her own space and so was Sheldon.

“What is this about?” Subtle never worked on him, if you wanted a straight answer out of Sheldon you had to ask him straight out. Then wait through the first, second, and sometimes third try at an explanation before he finally said something close enough to English that other people could understand it too.

“It has been brought to my attention that I lack in certain social skills and experiences that might be more widespread among my peers. It has been suggested to me that if I want to fit in more with others my age I need to familiarize myself with these antiquated customs and though I have no wish to  _ fit in _ , it has been pointed out to me that this is a non-optional rite of passage that I must transgress regardless of my own feelings upon the matter.”

“Huh?” Anti-what now?

“I have been informed that my current knowledge base in the area of fornication and all it’s ensuing areas is an undesirable one and will in time cause me to become a looked down upon member of my gender perhaps even impacting my ability to impart my findings to a suitable audience. If those who judge me academically also judge me socially I may be found wanting and that is unacceptable, so I have come to you to help me rectify this matter in as painless a process as possible for both parties.” As he continued to speak he began to fidget, something she had never seen him do unless he was lying or looking at something he found unhygienic. But she knew he wasn’t lying because these weren’t those tics, these were brand new in the lexicon of Sheldon.

“Huh?” She knew he thought he was explaining but all he was doing was making her head hurt, though she did pick out a few bits and pieces in there that she could understand and if she was getting the right gist of this she was going to be pissed.

“Oh good grief woman, are you incapable of rational thought? Fine I will put this as plainly as I can so that even your under educated feeble brain might understand my meaning clearly. I need to be divested of my current state of virginity, so I have come to you my only non-related female companion who is also sexually active at this stage in life.”

Oh hell no! He didn’t call her over to help him with something he called her over to proposition her.

“Sheldon Lee Cooper how dare you! I know your mama taught you better manners than this even if you did refuse to listen to most of it and back-talked your way through the rest.” She could feel the hurt starting to well up inside, she had known Sheldon nearly all her life and she thought he had been a good kind of guy. While most of the meatheads that tried to paw at her were expected, this had snuck up on her and she hated that. Feeling the tears start to fill her eyes she turned away from him and blindly started to stumble towards the door.

“Penny please. There is nothing indecent about this proposal. This is a scientific inquiry, there is a gap in my education and you always help me with my experiments.” His words were in earnest and stopped her in her tracks. He sounded so confused by her reaction, like he did every time something went over his head. Like the time he used Missy’s barbie collection to help him with an experiment and then didn’t understand why she was so upset with him.

“Sheldon, sweetie, I want you to stop for a second and think. Sex is an intimate act and not something you should do without some kind of an emotional connection.” What that emotion was was up for debate most of the time. Love, hate, lust, boredom, all kinds of emotions could lead to sex for someone who wasn’t Sheldon.

“I feel a great many emotions for you.”

“Not those kinds of emotions. You need love for sex.” She decided to leave out the lust lecture. There was no need to alarm him with facts he wouldn’t be able to place anymore than he could place his need for sex.

“But I do love you.”

“I know you do sweetie, and I love you too, but it needs to be a different kind of love. You love me like you love Missy, and it needs to be a more romantic love for sex to come into it.”

“I do not feel for you the things I feel for Missy. You are Penny, you are not Missy.”

“I know sweetie.” She could tell she wasn’t getting through to him. He didn’t seem to understand that he would not want to do this. Not here. Not now. Not with her. For someone like Sheldon a first time should be special and magical and something just for him. Not in his room while he family was out for a few hours. She needed to go a different way if she wanted to help him understand.

“Sheldon, you do know how you have sex don’t you?”

“Of course I do. I did my research before moving on to the experimentation stage.” He sounded like he was talking down to her again, which wasn’t anything new.

“So you know there’s a lot of touching involved, so why don’t we try that on a small scale first. How about a kiss?” She was sure he would run for the hills at the idea of their lips touching and their spit mingling. There was no way that Sheldon Lee Coo-.

“I find that acceptable, it is always best to take an experiment one step at a time. Thank you Penny for being so thorough.” Huh?

She could see the nerves behind his fidgeting and knew there was no way he would last beyond the actual point of contact. So a kiss and they would be done, she could do that, it was just a kiss.

Adjusting her top by rote she moved towards him never breaking eye contact. This was it do or die time. Putting her hands on his shoulder she drew him in closer and closer until they were chest to chest, their lips barely parted. Feeling the sudden urge to lick her lips she gave into it letting her tongue swipe across his bottom lip and secretly enjoying the small yelp he made at the unexpected contact.

That’s right moonpie, sex isn’t something you can schedule and act out, there was spontaneity to it. There was risk. There was passion. As the space between them finally closed she kept her eyes on him until they were finally touching and the sensations of the bone rattling kiss forced her lids to drift closed.

Oh! My! For a first timer that boy was one hell of a kisser. Her body began to move on instinct and almost automatically, there was no thought only movement. When a boy was kissing her hard enough to make her toes curl her hand would usually drift down to his fly to give him a good stroking. 

The sound of the zipper coming down startled them both for a moment,forcing them apart from their kisses, both of them looking down at his now exposed and erect penis.

“So big.” She wasn’t sure why she said that, though it was the truth it wasn’t really something that needed to be pointed out. Of course that was usually because if you were pointing out a guy's measurements it was because he didn’t measure up and no one wanted to hear that.

“The average genitalia size of a human male of my approximate height is twelve point nine centimeters, I have noticed over recent years that I exceed that statistic by a generous margin.”

“You sure have.” She was dumbfounded by what she was seeing, little Shelly certainly wasn’t so little anymore. Suddenly this little experiment seemed to be going more in her favor. “Did you want to keep going?” She wouldn’t hold it against him if he said no but she knew that if he did she would be spending the remainder of her evening behind a locked door with her battery operated boyfriend on high.

“Yes, I believe I do.”

“Me too sweetie. Me too.”


	3. The End of the World

  
  


The apocalypse began with more of a whimper than a bang.

Honestly when the lights had gone out Penny had just shrugged and thought maybe she had forgotten to send in that last payment to the power company. It had happened before, she had been on the phone yelling when she’d seen the envelope with the check still inside on the table next to the door, and it wasn’t the first time she’d been cut off without what she saw as fair warning.

When the boys had rushed over to check on her, Leonard holding a lightsaber and Sheldon in his head light and safety gear she thought maybe it was just a city wide blackout. Something else that wasn’t exactly uncommon. They wouldn’t learn what had really happened for a few more hours, and they wouldn’t believe it for a few more days. Heck, Penny wasn’t sure if she believed it even now.

All electronics were wiped out by an electromagnetic pulse that came out of nowhere and fried everything. No one was really sure how it happened, but the general theory seems to be that it was an accident since no one was claiming responsibility for it. Even if it was intentional claiming it would be an act of suicide, telling billions of people that you were the reason they’d been blasted back to the stone age would be a recipe for disaster. Even without power news like that would still find its way around the world as fast as any twitter campaign. 

Even without anyone standing up and apologizing millions of people started blaming whatever current enemy they had. Though the wider public seemed to be of the opinion that it had to be one of the big four that did this. America, Russia, Korea or China. No one else had either the tech or the will to pull something this global and this destructive off. When that consensus was reached the rest of the world turned their backs on them all. If none of them would stand up and declare themselves then they were all pronounced guilty on the spot and turned into the global enemy. No other nation would talk to them, no other nation would trade with them, no other nation would help them. 

Simply put they were on their own.

Penny had never been so scared in her life, though she figured it could have been worse. She could have been scared and on her own.

* * *

After the pulse first went off people were confused, but that confusion quickly turned to anger, and that anger became a mob mentality that made it dangerous to be caught outdoors in any of the largely populated areas. Sheldon was of course ready for any apocalypse level event, even the made up ones he knew were least likely to happen, so he had all the supplies he, his roommate Leonard, and their neighbor Penny would need to hold up in his apartment for the next year until life could settle down again, longer even if it came down to that. 

The reason he’d only included the three of them in his planning was because he’d observed their other acquaintances over the course of many years and could say with certainty that none of them were viable candidates for entry into his sanctuary. Howard would never leave his mother and there was no way a woman of her prodigious girth could climb the several flights of stairs it would take to reach them. Koothrapali would never leave Howard, their constant contact with one another an intrinsic part of each of their lives that had long ago become something neither could function without. Stuart would no doubt make his own stand in his comic book store, the man had no sense of self preservation to speak of. The only other people within the confines of Pasadena he was acquainted with were his fellow scientists at the university and he was sure that they would each have their own plans in place as was only proper.

As the three inhabitants of the fourth floor huddled together in the apartment that had become their life raft they started to grow closer and closer together once it was clear that they would be all the company any of them would have for a long time. They could hear the revelry and destruction going on outside at all hours of the day and night for the first month. Breaking glass and screaming became the serenade of their waking hours and the lullaby they fell asleep to at night. Eventually though that too tapered off into dreaded eerie silence as the things left to take diminished down to nothing. 

With Sheldon’s perfect memory and near compulsive need to take apart everything he’s ever owned or worked with and see how it works coupled with Howard’s engineering skills that the man had constantly rambled on and on about they were able to cobble together enough things to help them all survive for an indeterminate amount of time. 

Crop beds were made in place of flower beds, secured in an area where they would not attract attackers on the lookout for food. A water filtration system was created and utilized to slow but great effect. Candles were made using supplies found around the apartment that no longer served any purpose in their current state giving them more light for longer. Even the now defunct electronics were disassembled and repurposed for one project or another. Life went on, even in the face of disaster.

* * *

Penny had thought that life itself had ended when the lights went out, but she was surprised to find that it hadn’t. It got tougher for sure, but there was a clear path through it now. A path provided by Dr. Whack-a-doodle himself. Who knew that under all that crazy lied the mind of a survivalist expert. He even told them about the overall plan to one day, when life was a little more settled, move out into a more rural setting where they could subsist off the land easier than they were in the city. While their set up was lasting them fine at the moment it would only last so long without more resources to consume. He estimated it would take a full year inside the apartment for them to get to the level they needed to move on.

She wasn’t sure if she agreed with his timetable or not, but she was a little relieved that eventually they would be moving into an area where she could be of some actual help. While she was useless when it came to their current set up beyond the menial tasks with point by point instructions she would have skills to bring to the table in the open forest. She could fish and hunt as good as anyone raised in a proper country way.

Once they were towards the top of the food chain and beginning to settle into their new life without having to start each day in a panic of survival instincts and fear Sheldon came in with a new idea that shook their foundations once more. 

Breeding rights.

According to him it was the way of such things, every group that consisted of an uneven number of females to males eventually broke down to infighting over time if a hierarchy was not established early on. Biological needs were hard to fight when the simple act of walking away was taken out of the equation. 

When the subject had first come up Leonard had laughed it off thinking his quirky roommate was kidding. When he realised he was serious he tried to explain slowly and simply that since Sheldon didn’t have a deal to speak of clearly the only couple destined to couple up would be the two who actually knew how to perform the act itself.

Penny wasn’t sure which notion offended her more, though she did understand that Sheldon wasn’t trying to come off that way it sounded an awful lot like a neanderthal jerk claiming his woman and that was how it was starting to feel too. In either direction.

Unable to look at either of them without reaching for the nearest blunt object she stormed off towards Sheldon’s room. It was the closest to the living room and she just needed to be alone with her own thoughts. Sheldon’s no one can go in my room rule only lasted for the first few days of the power outage, after that she had explained to him what it meant to share and share alike. She was starting to regret that now. The boys were acting like they thought she didn’t deserve a say in what happened with and to her and that wasn’t the way this was going to work at all. If they had to come up with sleeping arrangements she would be the one to work that out not them.

Storming back into the room she told them just that. There would be no breeding rights until they got out of the city and everything did in fact settle down. After that she would be the one to decide who she would be with and that was final.

Leonard looked smug, like he thought he’d just won something but Sheldon looked approving like this was the outcome he’d been hoping for. It took her until late into the night to understand what had happened. By bringing up the topic of breeding right Sheldon had gotten her to lay down the ground rules about intimacy he thought they had been missing. In fighting only occurs without structure and she had just provided more than enough of it for the time being.

Clever little moonpie.


End file.
